Categories

Meta

How can we take better care of our world today?

Over the last term we have been considering the concept of stewardship and the role that we have to play within that. We have considered a number of things, but I guess that question is… is it all just a load of words? What is the use of the words if we’re not going to put those words into action. Our thought for the week comes from Wendell Berry who says “We do not need to plan or devise a “world of the future”; if we take care of the world of the present, the future will have received full justice from us” suggesting that if we take care of the world that we are living in today, then the future world will benefit from that care. We don’t need to come up with cunning and amazing plans, we just need to care for the world we are living in.

The big question really is are we actually doing that or are we just good at talking the talk, and making people aware, that we know what the problem is and how to solve it, whilst actually not doing a huge amount about it at all?

Many people have the misconception that Christianity is all about following rules, but actually that is possibly the furthest from the truth that you could get. People do things that are wrong, those things may be thoughts, they may be actions, but they are things that separate humans from God and are known as Sin. So… humans are separated from God, but God had a plan, and God came to earth and made himself human in the form of Jesus. When Jesus died on the cross, he had done nothing wrong, and he died in our place, which means we can be reunited with God. Therefore no matter what we do, what we think, we can be forgiven if we ask for it. Christians don’t do the things they do because they have to, they do the things they do because they choose to. It is a response to what God has done for them. In the letter of James he writes about faith being dead without deeds; and that although there is not necessarily any specific instruction or guidance of how people should act it seems clear that it is not sufficient to say that you have faith. James even says that people should be able to see faith through deeds.

This then could be reflected in our focus on the environment. People should be able to see that we know what the issue and the solution is with the environment by our actions, we shouldn’t need to say anything. Our actions will then be passed on to other people and the result of our actions will be appreciated by the future generations.

Prayer: Father God, we thank you for what you did for us, so that we can be reconciled with you. Help us to live our lives to reflect that love in our actions, and to love our environment today for future generations. Amen

Challenge: How can you take better of care of the world today? Think of one change you could make.